When the Glass is One Tenth Full
Do you focus on the positive even when there’s much less than half of it there?
When you have a choice, it’s usually better to tell people what they can do rather than can’t. Here are three examples:
I read an e-book titled, “The Top Ten Secrets of Instant Wealth″ by Salad Seminars CEO Jamie Smart. I probably wouldn’t have noticed an e-book like that but I’ve recently acquired two sets of Salad playing flash cards.
Jamie talks about asking better questions for wealth. Instead of seeing something and saying, “I can’t afford it,” he suggests asking, “How can I afford it?” The glass being half full significantly affects your attitude as it will with your audience.
The second example is that I sometimes see marketers bad mouth “hypnotic techniques.” Here’s a quote from an article in the Early to Rise e-zine (July 31st Issue):
“Don’t try to be a copywriter. Just explain what you’ve got and why anyone should care - and then just get out of the way.
“In other words, don’t mess around with mystical, manipulative tactics that are supposed to magically vacuum money out of your prospects’ wallets while they grin stupidly in a hypnotic trance.
“Just talk to people. Be interesting. Be respectful of their time. Share value. Make your pitch. And shut up.”
No doubt the point the author was trying to make was to avoid the mistake of sounding like you’re trying too hard or using hype. He’s telling you to do exactly what a copywriter does while starting by telling you not to try to be a copywriter.
The one tenth part of this is that the writer must not know how to use hypnotic language patterns well. That just means there’s more opportunity for those of us that do.
This post was prompted this last example. I went to see a movie at our IMAX last week. The theater is inside a state history museum. While everyone was waiting in line, one of the museum employees made an announcement with an interesting one tenth full twist.
He announces that food and drinks will be allowed in the theater as long as they were water with screw top bottles and candy bars still sealed in their wrappers. There’s no doubt that this approach was better received than telling people that no food or drinks were allowed except bottled water.
It reminds me of the saying attributed to Henry Ford that you could have any color of Model-T car as long as it was black.
I don’t know how many people noticed the approach at the museum but I found it humorous. That was actually much less than one tenth full but you get the point… be affirmative as much as possible for best results.
Tags: business, confidence, copywriting, learning, marketing, motivation, niche marketing, online business, optimism, persuasion, Slef Esteem and Confidence
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